Fuel Cell Applications
The Fuel Cell industry is highly visible today because it offers the promise of clean, quiet, reusable and efficient technology as an alternative power source for transportation, power generation and consumer electronics.
ESI Group’s CFD and multiphysics solutions provide fuel cell designers with the ideal environment to conceptualize, analyze and optimize the fundamental fuel cell components and systems.
ESI Group’s CFD and multiphysics solutions let fuel cell designers investigate and address a variety of issues specific to fuel cell technology, such as:
- Voltage-current characteristics for fuel cells (polarization curves)
- Overpotential and loss mechanisms
- Temperature distribution and thermal stress
- Species concentrations and water management (liquid and vapor distributions)
- Effects of pressure, relative humidity, temperature, porosity, tortuosity and catalyst loading
- Fuel manifold distribution in stack-level design
ESI Group’s high fidelity engineering analysis services and simulation software tools address a wide range of fuel cell applications, including:
- Fuel Cell Performance
- Fuel Cell System Performance
- Fuel Cell Stack Performance
- Fuel Cell (single cell) Performance
- Fuel Cell Channel Performance
- Effects of Humidity, Temperature, and Pressure
- Effects of Membrane Porosity, Tortuosity, and Catalyst Loading
- Startup and Transient Effects
- Flow Phenomena
- Flow Distribution in Stack Headers
- Flow Distribution in Cells
- Flow Distribution in Channels
- Flow Rate Optimization for Maximum Electric Power
- Channel Optimization
- Thermal/Structural Phenomena
- Temperature Distribution
- Thermal Management
- Thermoelastic Stresses
- Electrochemical Phenomena
- Current Distribution
- Potential/Over-Potential Distribution
- Loss Characterization
- Polarization Behavior
- Species Distribution
- Humidity Distribution
- Water Formation, Transport, and Control
- Fuel/Oxidizer Utilization
- Characterization and Control of Parasitic Reactions
- PEMFC Membrane
- Determination of required membrane characteristics
- Determination of required GDL characteristics
- Membrane Hydration
- Hydrogen Reformation
- Reformers
- Evaporator
